Without entering into a discussion about whether global warming and climate change are occurring or not, the statistics of recent years show that over the past five years the number of floods has more than doubled compared with the previous five years.
Meanwhile, the use of sandbags is still a simple and effective way to prevent a damage that may be caused by flooding. A barrier formed by properly filled and arranged sandbags may prevent penetration of water into the building and divert moving water around it.
Traditionally, sandbags are filled manually by using shovels. Filling sandbags involves a team of three people. One team member will hold open the bag to form a collar opening, the second team member places the tip of a pointed shovel with sand into the opened sandbag, and the third team member will transport and stockpile the filled sandbags.
Known in the art are various specific devices and machines for filling bags with sand without involving or alleviating the manual labor. Some examples of such devices and mechanisms are disclosed in the patent documents given below.
U.S. Pat. No. 430,355 issued on Jun. 17, 1890 to Stone discloses a wheeled frame having a combined shovel and hopper at its upper or forward end, provided in its bottom or lower end with an opening, of a bag-holder at the opening and a bag-supporting platform behind or below the holder. A hook to engage the bottom of the bag is provided. The combination, with the frame having a bag-holder at its upper end, of a tilting bag-supporting platform below the holder. The frame has a bag-holder at its upper end and cross-bars on which the platform is pivoted below the holder, the pivoted ends of the platform at one side of the pivots projecting over the cross-pieces to stop the pivot from tilting downwardly from that side, the said ends at the opposite sides of the pivots being constructed to swing downwardly between the cross-pieces to dump the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,147 issued on Mar. 7, 1995 to Brown, et al. discloses a two-handed scoop apparatus for filling conventional sandbags comprises an elongate rigid scoop having a generally semicircular transverse cross section defining an open upper region and open longitudinal end regions and first and second similar, inverted U-shaped, elongate handles, lower end regions of which are pivotally attached to opposing side regions of the scoop so that each handle straddles the open upper region of the scoop, the first and second handles being attached to the scoop in a longitudinally spaced apart relationship near ends thereof. A transverse cross brace is attached across each handle and a clip is fixed to each cross brace for detachably attaching an open end of a conventional sandbag to either end of the scoop so that when the scoop apparatus is moved in a direction away from the sandbag to scoop up sand or other material to fill the sandbag, the sandbag is moved along with the scoop apparatus, A bag is supported by a hook
U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,807 issued on Sep. 8, 1998 to Johnson discloses a versatile apparatus designed specifically for quickly and easily filling bags of sand, dirt, or other particulate material, which includes a scoop mounted on a lower frame and upwardly extending handles, which are braced to the lower frame in use. A latch is provided to detachably secure a bag to the scoop during filling. The entire apparatus can be folded for storage, including relocation of ground wheels and push handles to minimize external size. The invention includes a simplified form for light duty usage.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,015 issued on May 24, 2005 to Beveridge discloses a bag holding and filling device that has a light strong portable framework to hold a sandbag, or similar flexible container. The bag to be filled is secured by means of four hooks two of which are arranged on swinging arms and two on the main framework. These hooks engage with the open neck of the sandbag and hold the top of the bag open. A conical shaped funnel with an included angle of approximately 80° is pivotally mounted on the framework so that the funnel is supported in a position such that any material fed into the funnel will be guided into the open neck of the bag. The funnel swings into another position in which access is available to the hooks to place or remove the bag. A spring or springs tension the bag hooks on the swinging arms so that the bag is securely held on the hooks during the filling operation. The bent tubular framework provides strength with lightness and is formed to facilitate hand carrying. The framework is supported on legs that are removable and the funnel is detachable and reattaches into the framework to create a simple and resilient reconstruction of the device with minimal use of space for storage and transport.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,942,171 issued on May 17, 2011 to Hartley III discloses a device and a method for filling multiple sandbags at a time. The patent relates to an implement for mechanically filling multiple sandbags at a time and is used on a loader bucket of loader-type equipment. The implement has a planar surface in which a plurality of filler apertures are formed in a plurality of rows evenly spaced over its surface area. Each filler aperture has a tensioner ring around the aperture for holding a drawstring held in a sleeve around an open end of the sandbag. A trigger mechanism can be moved to a locked position, in which the drawstring of the sandbag is pulled tight so that the open end of the sandbag is held in place on the tensioner ring. The trigger mechanism can be switched to an unlocked position in which the trigger mechanism lifts the drawstring off the tensioner ring to allow the sandbag filled with filler material to pull on and cinch the open end of the sandbag closed. It can also be switched to a release position in which the cinched sandbag is released to the ground.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0011492A published on Jan. 20, 2011 (Inventor: Shahbazian) discloses a two-wheel device which is designed specifically for filling bags with particulate matter such as sand. The device consists of a scoop with open front and rear ends for passing sand therethrough. The scoop is carried by a first frame member and a second frame member between which the scoop is located and is supported so that the forward opening receives the sand therein as the device is moved forward. The device also has a first arm extending in a curved manner from the first frame member and a second arm extending in a curved manner from said second frame member such that a first and second handle region of the arms extends back over the scoop, whereby a fulcrum point is located behind the handle regions to allow the scoop member to be easily tilted backward. A bag covers the rearward opening for filling the bag with the sand when the device is tilted. A retainer positioned over the rearward opening is provided to maintain the bag in an open position, yet the retainer is extractable after the bag has been filled with the sand. Therefore, the device does not require a latch.